13. The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them. Let what they say be done to them!”
14. Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot: “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire and this people wood— and it will devour them.
15. See, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel.” It is a declaration of Adonai. “It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you neither know nor understand what they say.
16. Their quiver is an open grave. They are all mighty warriors.
17. They will devour your harvest and your food. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They will devour your flocks and your herds. They will devour your vines and your fig trees. They will demolish your fortified cities —the ones in which you trust— with the sword.
18. “Yet even in those days,” declares Adonai, “I will not completely destroy you.
19. So it will come to pass that when you ask, ‘Why has Adonai Eloheinu done all these things to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
20. “Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21. ‘Hear this you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
22. Do you not fear Me?’ says Adonai. ‘Do you not tremble in My presence?’ For I made the sand a boundary of the sea, an everlasting decree that cannot be broken. Though the waves roll, they cannot prevail. Though they roar, they cannot cross it.
23. But this people have a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and gone away.
24. They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Adonai Eloheinu, who gives rain in its season —fall rain and spring rain— who reserves for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
25. Your iniquities have turned these away, your sins have deprived you of bounty.
26. For among My people are wicked men, watching like bait-layers lying in wait. They set a trap—they catch men.
27. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. That is why they grew great and rich.
28. They grew fat and sleek. They also overlooked evil deeds. They do not uphold a cause— the cause of an orphan to prosper— nor do they defend the right of the poor.